ABSOLUTE KEY TOOCCULT SCIENCE THE TAROT OF THE BOHEMIANS BY PAPUS PREFACE THE Tarot pack of cards, transmitted by the Gypsies from generation. to generation, is the primitive book of ancient initiation. This has been clearly demonstrated by Guillaume Postel, Court de Gébelin, Etteila, Eliphas Levi, and J. A. Vaillant. The key to its construction and application has not yet been revealed, so far as I know. I therefore wished to fill up this deficiency by supplying Initiates, i. e. those who are acquainted with the elements of occult science, with an accurate guide, which would assist them in the pursuit of their studies. The uninitiated reader will find in it the explanation of the lofty philosophy and science of ancient Egypt whilst ladies are enabled to practise the use of the divining Tarot, by methods which we have rendered easy in Chapter XX. The book has been so arranged that each part forms a complete whole, which can, if necessary, be studied separately. I have used every effort to be as clear as possible the public that has warmly welcomed my other books will, I hope, forgive the imperfections inherent to a work of this kind.Papus"Therefore you must open the book and carefully weigh the statements made in it. Then you will know that the drug within is of very different value from the promise of the box, that is to say, that the subjects treated in it are not so frivolous as the title may imply."--RABBLAIS. WE are on the eve of a complete transformation of our scientific methods. Materialism has given us all that we can expect from it, and inquirers, disappointed as a rule, hope for great things from the future, whilst they are unwilling to spend more time in pursuing the path adopted in modern times. Analysis has been carried, in every branch of knowledge, as far as possible, and has only deepened the moats which divide the sciences. Synthesis becomes necessary but how can we realize it? If we would condescend to waive for one moment our belief in the indefinite progress and fatal superiority of later generations over the ancients, we should at once perceive that the colossal civilizations of antiquity possessed Science, Universities, and Schools. India and Egypt are still strewn with valuable remains, which reveal to archæologists the existence of this ancient science. We are now in a position to affirm that the dominant character of this teaching was synthesis, which condenses in a few very simple laws the whole of the acquired knowledge.